"Environment-People-Law" (EPL) (formerly Ecopravo-Lviv) was founded in 1994 as one of the first public interest environmental law organizations in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. Recently, it has become one of the most highly respected voices for citizen environmental rights in Europe and around the world.

At the beginning EPL consisted of just one professor and two aspirants (founders), who dreamed of better enforcement of environmental laws and especially protection of the environmental rights of citizens, including court defence. As of 2002, we have grown to 15 full- and part-time staff members and have taken on significant international roles.

Environmental defence was and is a very pioneering and necessary job in Ukraine, which has become an independent state and started to create a Rule of Law society, respecting the court system as an independent branch of power. The environmental awareness of the population and of lawyers, including judges, remains very low. That is why trainings for judges and prosecutors became naturally one of the main directions of activity.

Representation of citizens has always been a central part of our mission. We supplement the direct work by lawyers for citizens with the creation of a clinical program for the students of the Law Faculty of Ivan Franko Lviv National University. This helps to involve law students in our activity and to develop a new generation of public interest environmental lawyers. Some of them come one time to the office, never leave it, and become permanent staff lawyers. Everybody admires the enthusiastic spirit of the organization and the friendly and supportive atmosphere of the office.

EPL is widely recognized also for its collaborative work at the local, national, and international levels. When regional department of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources cannot solve some environmental problem or needs consultation on environmental law issue, they call or visit EPL. EPL also works on the national level, preparing materials for the Ministry, and participating in law drafting of the Committee on Environmental Policy of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine).

On the international level, EPL is recognized as a valuable partner by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe due to the participation of our members in preparation, negotiation, signature, ratification and early implementation of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. Our members also participate in different Task Forces and of Intergovernmental Working groups under the Aarhus Convention and the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in Transboundary Context.

Three senior staff members of EPL have been chosen to be members of the prestigious Commission of Environmental Law of the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (CEL-IUCN). Furthermore, EPL President has been elected as the Vice-Chair of the Steering Committee of CEL -IUCN for the East European region.

EPL has initiated and organized (with partners) a series of international conferences of environmental lawyers of CEE and NIS, including hosting the first, fifth, and seventh conferences. This led to the creation of the Association of Environmental Law of CEE and NIS (Guta Association). In the year 2001 the headquarters of the Association moved to EPL.

EPL works on different projects with Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (E-LAW). EPL became its country office, ELAW-Ukraine. In the year 2001 we had a successful joint West NIS project on Internet training and usage for environmental NGOs from Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine.

EPL has become a more sustainable organization because we pay attention to diversified fundraising. Our original sponsor and partner during eight years has been the Central and Eastern European Law Initiative of the American Bar Association. In recent years, EPL has broadened its financial support to include the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe, Milieukontakt Oost Europa, ISAR, Eurasia Foundation, MATRA KAP, USAID, US State Department, US Embassy, Open Society Institute – and donations from individual citizens in Ukraine and abroad.

EPL’s office, located in the wonderful Ivan Franko Park in the centre of the city of Lviv, is easily accessible to its clients - citizens and NGOs who seek support and advise in solving problems using environmental law tools - and to others. Our regular visitors are also students of Lviv National University’s Law Faculty and International Relations Faculty. They search for environmental information in our library and computer databases of environmental legislation of Ukraine and international law, and they come looking for practical experience in environmental law.

I am very happy to see EPL’s continued professional growth and strengthening during the past year. Evaluating our work in the year 2001 and previous years, I hope that EPL will continue successfully and have eternal life.

Professor Svitlana Kravchenko,
President of EPL